About this project

Several years back we took a stab at making an RPG, in the underdeveloped genre of Sentai. To our knowledge at the time there were very few RPGs in the genre and the few that we could find were either, a section of "hey this could be used for sentai" in some anime inspired RPGS, or were games that used other systems like FATE or D20, to apply the sentai rules to. But none of us had seen an actual Sentai RPG build for sentai from the ground up, armed with this and our love of the genre we set about to make a small game (limited print run at Xenocon 3, and PDF at DrivethruRPG.com. It seemed to be a hit, as did the companion supplement we made. Decent sales and reviews made us feel pretty good, but why not go bigger?

the red sentai (chibi form)

And that's what this is. adding production value with better artwork, combining the supplement and the core book into one volume (so you no longer have to swap between books!) and adding a few new things (including 36 more monster templates, and a new optional mecha creation and combat system) we figured now was the time to strike!On top of this for the first time we will be selling the game as a P.O.D. through Drivethru RPG.

Our Chibi version of the Blue Sentai

The new material is mostly already added to the core book, and a great deal of the editing is done. And all cards on the table this game WILL be released even if this kickstarter does not meet it's goal, so why do a kickstarter? two reasons! Firstly to promote the game to an audience that may not have known it existed! Second to add to the production value, The money we get can be put into art buy to make the game look less like the (admittedly) limited art skills of yours truly, but to get new art and new talent to turn a rather utilitarian game into something that can sit in your RPG library proudly next to other great games!

WHAT IS SENTAI-

The literal translation of Sentai is “battle team” and starting back in 1975 with a live action series called Secret Task Force Goranger, Japanese audiences thrilled to a show that was one part Godzilla movie and one part martial arts / stunt display. The plots of most episodes were pretty predictable. Evil overlord sends minions and a monster to menace the city, the heroes retaliate, and even-tually the monster gets really big and our heroes call in the big guns in the form of a mecha, followed by one more big fight where the monster goes down and our heroes relish a bit of victory. This formula has gone on for several decades after Goranger, including most noteably here in the USA a series known as Zy-uranger in 1992, which was translated and called the “Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers.” While the show was radically modified, and was re-cast keeping only the action sequences from the original and the villains to make a more Holly-wood production, it was also relatively cheap as all the huge city sets and big effects were already paid for in the Japanese production. The show was phe-nomenally popular with kids, and despite the many changes between the shows (Zyuranger only lasted 1 season, but Power Rangers would last far more, not to mention that the infamous “green ranger” was killed in Zyuranger necessitating them to recycle a very small bit of footage to keep the popular character in the American version) the show was a hit spawning it to continue along using each new Sentai series as a continuation of the singular story line. Sentai has been very popular all over the world, not just in it’s homeland, due to its basic plots, high action and cool robots. Emulating those things that make Sentai cool is what this game is all about! A quick Sentai list Sentai has a long and storied history dating back to the era of bell bottoms and disco, and is still going strong today. It has fans worldwide (and heck some peo-ple don’t even know they are fans of it!) While this list is far from a comprehen-sive list of Sentai series out there, it is a list of the myriad of series that you as players and game masters can draw upon for your own campaigns. This list is broken into a few sections to give you an idea of the varied forms and options you may wish to explore.

THE SYSTEM

In sentai, heroes are almost always built together as a team (as opposed to American superheros, where more often individual heroes are created and later combined into super teams.) Sentai heroes are each assigned a color. The character's color is much like a class in a traditional RPG, Color determines much about your character's personality and assigns one 'Special Skill" that can apply a +3 modifier if you can justify your special skill being in line with the task at hand. In the example, the color "black" is NINJA! and gains a +3 to any task that seems appropriate for anyone who is a ninja.The player can make a case for anything that he might feasibly attribute to ninja training. In Super Happy Sentai Hour, just as in many RPGs, the action starts with the game master (or GM) setting the scene. Once this is done, it is up to the players to make choices on how to react, and normally it is during this point that the GM will require you to roll to determine if you are capable of succeeding at the action you have decided to take. For the most part this will follow a very simple set of rules, First the GM will set up a difficulty rating from 5-30. This is a base number of how difficult the task is and the higher the number the more difficult the task. A difficulty rating of 5 is fairly easy, while a 30 is near impossible. Once you are asked to roll you will roll 2 six-sided dice (or 2d6) adding the appropriate attribute, and if applicable any special skills or weapon skills. If the total of the dice is equal to or higher than the difficulty, then you succeed, and if it is less you fail. The GM will then describe results of the actions based on your success or failure. You can also use the simple formula below for reference.
If Stat + any applicable skills + 2d6 = difficulty (5-30) or higher: Success
Example: Phil. Who is the black Sentai of his team, is trying to sneak past a guard, and needs to make a stealth check. The GM decides the difficulty is 15 as the guards are on alert. As stealth is considered a test of agility, Phil starts with a base of agility stat 5. On top of that, Phil is the Black Sentai, who gets NINJA! Skill and this would add a +3 to his stealth check, as stealth is clearly a ninja type skill. Phil picks up his 2 six-sided dice and rolls a 5 and a 2 for a total of 7, thus stat (5)+skill (3) plus total roll (7) = 15, meaning Phil’s character slips past the guards.
Color dice and “Exploding”
As stated earlier in the game, players should have dice with 2 colors, one white and one that shares the color of their character, if possible. The reason for this is that the color die has the potential to “explode.” If during a test, your color die should roll a six, it “explodes,” which means you may roll the color die again and add it to your running total. If you roll another six it explodes again and you must roll again adding further to the total until such point as your roll any other number besides six. Example:

Louise a pink sentai, is being attacked by a monster and decides to use her special skill GIRL! arguing she would be trained in gymnastics and use that as a roll to dodge out of the way, in hopes of getting her +3 for her GIRL! Skill. The GM Agrees and gives her a difficulty of 12, her agility is only 3 but the +3 for her GIRL! Skill will mean she starts with a 6. Rolling both dice, her white die only gets a 2 but her pink die gets a 6, meaning it explodes. She rolls the pink die again and luckily gets another 6, meaning it explodes again. She rolls the pink die a third time and gets a 1. adding the dice together she gets 2 on the white and a whopping 13 on the pink die due to it exploding twice. Added to her stat+skill of 6 she has a total of 19, and dodges the attack with ease.

There is a bit more than that but this gives you a basic idea as to how the task resolution rules work.

HOW ARE WE GOING TO FULFILL OUR GAME?

We also intend to use drivethru RPG to print and distribute both our print and PDF offerings and as they have with many other games they do an amazing job of bringing these kinds of smaller indy projects to life, and making it easier for both the customer and the writer to see this product come to reality.

STRETCH GOALS!-

I have added a few stretch goals in hopes this will liven up the game.

$5500.00- GM SCREEN INSERTS: we will be adding GM screen inserts for both portrait and landscape formats in PDF for all levels of pledge at no additional charge, it is an easy way to have any charts or data handy for you at the table.

$6000.00- 2 Adventures in PDF: if we reach $6000.00 we will publish two additional modules in PDF for free also like the GM Screen for all Levels. the modules include the adventures GRAND THEFT MECHA, and UNDER THE SEA. both modules include pre gen Sentai to make running them that much easier.

$6500.00- Dancin' for Dollars- If we reach this level I will shoot and star in a music video dancing publicly in a red ranger costume. Don't believe me? here is a pic of me with the helmet -

I am not kidding I am willing to make a goof of myself to make this happen!

Risks and challenges

There is only one major risk/challenge in this project and that is in this being my first time doing this. I have set a pretty lengthy delivery time but that is because I would rather be wrong and deliver early than be wrong and deliver way late. I have been in a few Kickstarters that have still not delivered. and I know from experience how frustrating it can be when you invest in a game only to see nothing come out of it, or maybe a bit of what was promised but no full followthrough, and that is my biggest fear, and what I plan to do everything in my power to avoid. The core for this game already exists, and there is a document on my machines right now that is an edited and expanded version as I have talked about it still needs a tweak here or there but We are ready to roll. and as we are using DrivethruRPG for our publishing and distribution this has taken a lot off our plate (no looking for printers, or getting quotes, that part is pretty much done.) So while I don't see reason to take very long I want to always error on the side of caution.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $75 or more
About $75

Denjistar Citizen

A hardcover of the new rulebook plus a printed copy of the original print run of Super Happy Sentai Hour first edition (only sold at Xenocon 3 Before) and hand autographed as well as the PDF of the game.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $200 or more
About $200

Mentor

Build your own sentai team and add it to the book, we will include the new team as part of one of the sentai groups listed in the book, include a theme, up to 6 heroes, and backgrounds as well as mecha (please note this is a family friendly game so keep this PG rated, nothing offensive, or you will be asked to resubmit.) You also get a copy of the PDF upon release.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $1,000 or more
About $1,000

Master of Tokusatsu

not only do you get the hard cover book, and the PDF, but we will travel anywhere in the continental United States or Japan and have either the designer or editor (the Designer if US, the Editor in chief if Japan) run the game for you and your friends for a session this will also include a autographed copy of the first print run as mentioned in the Denjistar Citizen level, hand delivered during the session.